Plan to Change College Student Voting Rules Might Be in Trouble

It looks like a controversial bill affecting student voting might not have enough support to make it in the budget after all.

Democratic State Representative Debbie Phillips says courts have ruled college students who attend Ohio universities full time can vote as Ohioans if they want. She’s taking issue with a part of the proposed budget that would mandate state universities to lose money if they give these students credentials needed to vote.

"This amendment is estimated to cost Ohio universities over 300 million dollars. Republicans don’t want to help students with the cost of tuition. They want to stop students from voting and they are trying to get the universities to do that work for them," says Phillips.

But the plan doesn’t have the support of all Republicans, including State Representative Larry Obhof.

"I’m not sure why that provision is in there and what its intended effect was specifically but it’s not something I supported and it’s not something that I would say has broad support throughout the caucus," says Obhof.

Obhof says he and some of his fellow GOP members have submitted amendments to remove that provision from the budget when changes are made next week.